from my pen...

 

Blogbat note:

I wrote this some time back. I haven't had time to really post anything or say anything to anyone, so I thought at least I would drop this in here to show you all I am still alive and the rest of that junk. I write poetry about a great many things in life, however it is ones such as these which seem to be the most interesting to people in general. Not because I have written them, rather by the pure allure of the matter which it draws to the reader's mind. Whether or not this poem performs this efficiantly or not, is left to the judgement of the reader.

 

Words by Blogbat

Music by David Friedman

 

My love

It’s been so long

Since I saw your face

And you held my hand

 

Simple moments

Full of life and love

I’ve tried so long it seems

To forget what we had

 

All the time

All the time

All the time

I remember

 

I stand

In this blackest night

I can feel yesterday

It is like a flame

 

We are eternal

Not this time apart

Beyond the end of time, my love

Our souls will embrace

 

All the time

All the time

All the time

 

When we lost each other

I searched the world over

 

We are eternal

Not this time apart

Beyond the end of time my love

Will be with you

 

My sweet companion

Don’t you recall?

When our love swept over us

Like a dream

 

...from my pen

 

 

 

Blogbat's Philosophical Note #411:

The oppressor of the innocent has his day,
but the day of the just will come and be eternal

 

 

 

 

 

ISSUES

 

An Update from the Front

 

(A view of two years into World War II from a parallel universe where today's media and "loyal" opposition confront yesterday's war)

 

Bob Krumm

 

December 8, 1943

 

London - It has been two years since President Roosevelt has embarked on the most far-reaching global war in history, and yet America has so far seen little success. 

 

Attacked by Japan--an attack not unprecipitated by America's heavy-handed policies in the Far East--America's reaction has been to wage war against foes ten thousand miles distant from the Japanese.  Rather than trying to bring to justice organizers of the Japanese attack, this war's major fighting has been limited largely to North Africa and the Mediterranean. 

 

Critics have had plenty of fodder for claiming that the administration had been looking for any excuse to fight Hitler.  Even without proof of German involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor, neo-zionists in the administration seemingly viewed the Hawaiian attack as a green light for their ambitious plans.

 

Meanwhile, Roosevelt's military has been less than successful on the battlefield.  Kasserine was far from a stellar example of American military prowess.  And for what?  So that America could lay claim to the barren land inhabited by the third world tribes of Libya?  Across the globe at a tiny and irrelevant atoll named Midway, the Japanese finished off one of America's newest carriers, the USS Yorktown.  This, after the Japanese already destroyed the backbone of America's Pacific fleet: the battleships.  Ironically the USS Yorktown was named for the last battle of the first American war.  Could it be that fifty years from now Japan will celebrate America's last-ever battle by naming one of its ships the Midway?  And on the beaches of Anzio a country not known for its military success, Italy, has given Americans fits.  The Army has been particularly ineffective thus far.  Could it be that General Marshall's purges of the Army's general officers has made its ill effects felt on the battlefield?

 

And what of America's allies?  There's England, led by the "hero of Gallipoli" Winston Churchill.  And don't forget tiny Australia.  Last and certainly least is Stalin's Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  If there was one country on the globe that justified an American attack against it, it would be her ally Russia.  And yet Roosevelt arms America's doppelganger, while he makes excuses for its inhumane treatment of its citizenry.   Doesn't sound quite like the "shining city on the hill" you probably thought America once was.

 

Tens of thousands dead, and two years into the globe's most horrific war, and America looks no closer to achieving its goals.  And just what does President Roosevelt actually expect to accomplish as a result of this expensive gamble?  Does he really expect to introduce democracy to America's enemies?  Imagine Germany, which itself has only been a country for 70 years, accepting a constitutional form of government.  Even more laughable is the idea that a Far Eastern culture like Japan's, with its Oriental religion and its martial history, could ever accept Western-style democracy.

 

At home America still reels from the worst economy in its history.  One can't help but wonder if the administration views news of the steady stream of military casualties so casually because they know that at least that means there will be less hungry mouths to feed.

 

Because of Roosevelt's costly war-without-end, and a struggling economy, Republicans can't help but to be excited about their prospects of finally achieving long-awaited electoral success in 1944.

 

 

ISSUES

 A Note from the Garden Journal Volume 1.6

a weekly weekend event of timely trifles

 

This weeks Garden Journal will focus on the things upon which we should always remember to give just attention. That is, the diplomacy of our significant relationships and the elections of hearts toward one another.

 

While we must pay attention to the bigger scope, we must also I believe, remember that truly fixing it and preventing more of the same begins its life within each individual's sphere of influence. And while it may not affect demonstratively the outcome of today's worldwide conflicts and concerns, it will with ease do thus for tomorrow's.

 

So let's take a quick look at the full-grown child of yesterday's choices.

 

Another year, another Yom Kippur. Another clump of murders performed by sightless suicide-sheep following power-blinded leaders being sponsored by bigotry and power blinded national rulers, who in turn are sponsored by hatred and power-blinded Eastern superpowers. It's a little bit to make one's head spin. To follow the trail of “plausible deniability” and indirect support we are lead all over Asia. In the process of becoming acquainted with who the Hatfield's and McCoy's of  WWIII are, have been and shall be, we cannot help but see the Kings and Queens, and their rooks and knights and their pawns. We know that Syria and Iran are next for us and that after we hit them and start getting close to the wizard behind the curtain all hell will break loose.

 

But I shan't spend scads of hours here rehashing what we all are surely weary from reading and hearing. We know what must be done and it is simply a matter of achieving it. Let's now take a look at the fruits of the previous few generations on our National culture.

 

Schwarzenegger has been in the headlines to a degree recently as America's favorite Moderate Republican. Some seem still confused about which areas for him represent personal conservative strongholds and which might be his more moderate tendencies. I think we can safely rule out his being a moderate with respect to female-relations. So, why then is Hollywood so repulsed by Arnold? He clearly is a social liberal, living it up to the grandest of the “everything is relative” and “me first” crowd. Why they don't adore him and pour broken bottles of expensive perfume on his feet, I don't know. He is a fiscal something-or-other, something akin to “RAH-RAH, KEEP-IT-TIED, TEAM!” He does have the right idea about immigration. Plus we all know those Canadians sure talk funny. No seriously, my grandparents immigrated here legally and learned English (those who didn't previously speak it), paid taxes, served in the armed forces…and jury duty so I don't know what the problem here is. Arny is better than Bust-a-monte, but not by far. At least the Terminator won't try to secede from the Union and rejoin that prosperous and thriving first-world nation to the south, i.e. Mexico where the white Spaniards rule and the rest flee.

 

Today I played volleyball at Granny White Park and it rained. It rained, but we kept playing. That is what we must do while nut-cases rage on in California, Washington D.C. and the Far- and Middle East. Because while it rained, it was still warm, the music still could be heard and the important matter of scoring and playing and building a bond with teammates still needed constant attention. Long after the rain is over, long after the clouds pass, the final score will be recounted, friendships will be recounted by healthier souls and soul mates, which endured and played on while the matter of the weather was and will be forgotten. In fact, the challenge of the rain made the comradery and sport all the sweeter. And while it is doubtful it will affect future downpours, at least in the meteorological sense, it will affect the status of the relationships built there at the net.

 

So, remember the policy which should never be foreign, never forgetting the lives around you, remembering future dreams are built on future memories. It will make today's rain less scalding and might abate the chances of tomorrow's from ever becoming.

 

 

 

Sliocht sleachta ar shliocht bhur sleachta (a Gaelic blessing)

 

-Blogbat a.k.a. Martin

 

 

 

A Note from the Garden Journal Volume 1.6

Xanga ate my wonderful blog. Sharing your deep thoughts and losing them is like...telling someone something significant and having them continue on their previous track with no acknowledgement of your confiding words.

 

So here's to you, Xanga. And here's to you, evil keyboard shortcut inventors who so cruelly invented this tool of the devil which makes no sense and occurs with little or no warning. Did you know there is a shortcut key that makes everything you typed just disappear even when not highlighted? Who wanted this, may I ask? A software programmer, no doubt! No one else would fantasize about this, and scarcely would anyone find need of it. Well, I have already said what I wanted to and only the angels will know, I guess, what a unique week it's been for me. I hate those keyboard shortcut demons. I have to believe they are by far, worse than Mac demons. And to think, the one singular time I didn't type it first in Word and save it before pasting it. Greasy dog crap. But a lesson learned.

 

Caption by Blogbat

 

I know you want to know what I was going to say and...essentially, it would be vain to attempt to fully reassemble my thoughts, because to do so, I would need to feel everything all over again in full as I fully reflected on my week for the first time, which is impossible. But hey, it's just a blog, so I'll quit now with the faux dramatics.

 

It has been a week of change and more. A new year, a birthday, new routines, new faces, new places and...new toys. I took a client (and a good friend of mine) to the airport this morning to catch a departing international flight for a trip which is to last several months. Every time I am near an airport the strangest thing happens. I feel these Schmetterlinge (German) or Parparim (Hebrew) or Butterflies  going here and there, hin und her inside me. I hear the roar of the planes overhead and see the "Departing International Flights" sign and I think of the dull roar and hum of ten-hour flights with new music and movies and Salmon to kill for. Mario brothers and meeting new people who are heading home to their land. Flying over Sussex just before daybreak watching the cars as they travel down the road in the wrong direction. Then water once more. And fields, industrial parks, Holland...as always, you can tell where you are by the color of the housetops. There's the ding, the hard bank right and the ground...swifter still...and the pavement and...is that all? But this is where the whole world opens up and a myriad accents and fashions hit you like a room of a drastically different, yet inviting temperature. I blend in...

 

I envy my client his trip, but i suppose it's all to happen again for me quite soon enough. Perhaps I shall eventually find myself working for the State Department in an embassy somewhere, surrounded by people from every part providing me sufficient complexity to keep it interesting. That would be a fun job. Perhaps something yet more "me". But it goes without saying I am most at home when in such an environment and surrounded by such neat, interesting and fun people. This is my element.

 

So many things this past week have happened which were things I secretly hoped for (more so the past few months), but was quite surprised to see them pop up so soon. I got a new toy. A black Swedish convertible that one of my friends said today is "really" me. I never thought I would ever want a car by this particular brand, but its balance of sporty and diplomatic and not most typical is also a reflection of some of my own traits.

 

My buddy and I drove downtown as well as through Vandy (where some of my friends teach and also study) and past my favorite bookstore in Green Hills this evening. It is just striking how much things change in a year. I moved here a year and a month ago today. I didn't know a soul or have anything lined up, but I knew it was right. (I think tonight I also spied the perfect area to hunt Christmas lights this year).

 

These events also make me wonder about the other things I have hoped for just as much or even more this past period of three months or so. It seems to be quite the time for many new things yet I'm still the self-same person I was last week. And last year. Mais different.

 

OKAY! so sticking to my day job: here's some of what went down today

 

1. Got a Starbuck's Frap

2. Let the dog out. (yes, I did it, "woof, woof woof")

3.Took friend to the airport

4. ran around town doing errands

5. Donated my weekly time to a local non-profit

6. Let the dog out. Yes, again. (yes, I did it, "woof, woof woof")

7. Ate

9. Ran around town some more

10.Began this blog

11.Here I am, wasn't that fun?

 

This list is sponsored by the National Abridgate Foundation, sponsoring selected truncated works since 1974.

 

"Give me ambiguity...or give me something else."

...There's more, but hairy cantaloupes are not allowed to ride the tube (subway).

The daily Poo

“Look stimpy! Eeet's Poooooo!”